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31 May 2014 at 4:28am

Labour will not try to 'out-Ukip Ukip' on immigration

Labour will take on Ukip's immigration policies the way President Obama took on the Tea Party, shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna has said, after Ukip's massive surge in the local and European elections.

Shadow cabinet member Chuka Umunna Credit: PA

Writing in the Guardian, Mr Umunna said: "Our politics has often not seemed equal to the challenge, and Ukip has become the lightning rod for people's fury.

"But Ukip has struggled to pick up support in more diverse communities, such as mine, because people recognise what it says is not so different to what was once said of people like my father arriving here from the Commonwealth in the 1960s and 1970s.

"We will not try to out-Ukip Ukip. Labour is not going to offer false solutions, such as leaving Europe...Labour will take on Ukip by calling them out on these issues and others every week between now and the general election".